Private Presley with his first public girlfriend, Anita Wood from Memphis

Anita Wood and Elvis got to know each other in Memphis, Elvis’ hometown, and were close friends from 1957-1962. She wrote to him in Germany where he was stationed with the U.S. Army. Years later she was interviewed about her relationship with Elvis, and recalled:

“He called me Little because I was very small at the time, tiny. ‘Little girl, go fix me a sandwich, peanut butter and jelly sandwich.’ Now, you know, back when I fixed a sandwich for him, we mixed up the peanut butter and banana together. We didn’t put it [the sandwich] in butter and put it in a skillet. We just put [the mixture] on white bread. But…the other day, this man was fixing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that Elvis liked and they sliced the bananas in thick slices and put it in this butter and cooked it…so he [Elvis] may have started liking that later. But when I was dating him [1957-1962], he liked just a plain old-fashioned mashed banana [sandwich].”

The Elvis Sandwich (sometimes simply “The Elvis”) is a fried sandwich consisting of peanut butter, bananas, and sometimes bacon. It was supposedly one of Elvis Presley’s favorite foods.

The Elvis Sandwich appears open-faced before it is closed and fried.

The Elvis Sandwich is simple to make. This recipe comes from his cook:

Toast two slices of soft white bread in a toaster. Spread peanut butter on one slice, slice banana on top of the peanut butter, and cover with the other piece of toast. Fry the sandwich in a hot skillet with melted butter.

Elvis Presley joined the U.S. Army in March 25, 1958, completing his basic training at Fort Hood, Texas, and serving in Germany.